Fifty-three percent reported hiring or trying to hire (up 5
points), but 47 percent reported few or no qualified
applicants for the positions they were trying to
fill. Twelve percent reported using temporary workers,
down 2 points. A net 12 percent planning to create new jobs,
down 2 points but a solid reading. Twenty-nine percent of
all owners reported job openings they could not fill in the
current period, up 3 points and the highest reading since
April 2006. Fourteen percent cited the availability of
qualified labor as their top business problem, the highest
since September 2007. The job openings figure is
one of the highest in 40 years and this suggests that labor
markets are tightening and that there will be more pressure
on compensation in the coming months.

On wages going up:

Labor costs continue to put pressure on the bottom line but
energy prices are down a lot. Four percent reported
reduced worker compensation and 26 percent reported raising
compensation. This should begin to show up in wage
growth, although rising benefits offset potential increases
in take-home pay. A seasonally adjusted net 14 percent plan
to raise compensation in the coming months (up 2
points). The reported gains in compensation are
still in the range typical of an economy with reasonable
growth, and labor market conditions are suggestive of a
tightening, which will put further upward pressure on
compensation along with government regulations including the
healthcare law.

That said, the headline number — the optimism index — rose only
0.1 from
January's report, to 98.0. That was off from the 98.9
expected, but was likely due to weather.

Here's Pantheon Macroeconomic's Ian Shepherdson after the
report:

The details for Feb show only modest changes in the key headline
components, with a 3-point increase in jobs-hard-to-fill
-released last week in the NFIB jobs report - offset by
trivial declines in sales and economic expectations,and
hiring plans. Capex intentions were unchanged; the trend is
rising, but painfully slowly. Actual comp - not a headline
component - dropped 5 points but expectations rose 2; these
numbers are more volatile than the jobs-hard-to-fill number,
which is now at its highest since
April 2006. It clearly signals accelerating wage gains,
and the [Employment Cost Index] wage component is beginning to move up in
response.